5.3.16
Pour some margarita’s on MAAYYYYYYY! May is here and surprise surprise, NYC doesn’t agree and has turned chilly and autumn-like. My birthday is Friday and I’ll still be dressing like it’s spring every day to celebrate.
I was out of town with friends this weekend in a secluded wooded area of Pennsylvania, so I apologize for the absence at the end of this past week, I was too busy having fun. But I’m back to wrap up my Mexico trip this week, so we can all move on to other non tropical things.
The nice thing about traveling somewhere that isn’t a crazy crowded destination is that you can have your pick of places to eat and drink. We treated ourselves more than once and didn’t have to wait for a table, or stand around in a crowded bar hoping for someone to get up. We sat and watched the ocean crash, or listened to live music and ate fresh fish and cocktails to our hearts content. These are some of my favorites:
HARTWOOD
If you’ve heard of Tulum at all I’m sure you’ve heard of this place. It’s super hyped up, and has a ridiculous reservation policy that leaves people standing outside for upwards of an hour or more to get their name on a list for that evening. It’s a small outside restaurant started by a chef from NYC, it’s super fresh and refined, and Yelp basically has it’s own orgasm over it. I’m getting this place out of the way first because while it was super delicious, there are SO MANY other places to eat and drink that are just as good, and if you’re willing to spend the pesos, you’ll be hard up to find bad food.
My favorite part of our Hartwood experience was how we got a reservation. Living in NYC, my patience for getting a table somewhere is close to nil, and yet everyone told us we had to eat here, even though they start taking named at 3(which means people line up as early as 2) for spots starting at 5:30. We thought……no. We’re not letting a restaurant dictate our day, sorry. bout. it. So we enjoyed our morning, went into town to walk around, finally decided to grab a taxi to Hartwood and arrived there at 3:20. The line was gone, we said, ‘any spots left for tonight?’ Lady host goes, ‘yeah 5:30.’ We go, ‘great, here’s our name, PEACE.’ So while all those other suckers waited for a spot, we rolled up like ballers, got our name on the list and went back to the hotel to chill until dinner. Pure. Gangster.
We dined on suckling pig empanadas, grilled octopus, the fish of the day and ended with the sour lime tart.
It was all very tasty, I’d recommend it for sure, but don’t let the pressure of getting a reservation get in the way of your vacation, I love food, but no restaurant is worth stressing out over….especially on the beach.
POSADA MARGHERITA
This place is an Italian restaurant on the beach. Italian? In Mexico? Believe it or not it’s definitely not the only Italian place along the coast. But the fresh ingredients and handmade pasta make it a great reason to veer away from tacos.
That’s the view. And as the sun goes down, string lights bring a romantic hue to the place. At the beginning of the meal, instead of a typical bread basket, you receive a whole spread of delicious focaccia, oil and vinegar and pickled cauliflower to snack on. We ate their fish of the day and the fresh pasta (made by hand!!) for our meal and the chocolate pot de creme for dessert. If any of it was on the table long enough I could’ve taken pictures of it. But sadly, it didn’t last long. This is a great place to spend an evening on the beach with great food in great company.
ZIGGY’S
I’ll give you a quick run down of this place since I don’t have any pictures of the incredible things we ate. One of our first nights we stumbled upon Ziggy’s as we walked down the beach at sundown. It was a lucky find. The bar has swings instead of chairs (so fun!), the bartenders were awesome, and the beers are cheap. Not to mention everything we ate there was flavorful and fresh. The sopes were amazing, tuna was perfectly rare and the fried bananas were my dream come true. Not to mention we started our love affair with a Carajillo 43. An after dinner drink consisting of espresso and Liquor 43. Once you start with those, you won’t stop, so tread lightly.
EL PEZ
This is where we stayed, and their restaurant is on point. Some of our favorite things that we ate on our trip were from the El Pez restaurant! The octopus tacos at lunch, eat them all. The community dinner they do once a week with huge fresh fish and short ribs with live music, go to it. Their brunch? I mean.
Can’t stop won’t stop on how good this place is. For brunch we had Eggs Benedict with Smoked Marlin and the Crepes with Orange Caramel Sauce. It was upsetting how good it was. And see how beautiful those dishes are? That is how every dish is presented, like a work of art. Even if you don’t stay there, you’re doing yourself a disservice for not checking their restaurant out.
So You Just Wanna Grab a Cocktail?
Go into town and check out Batey. Known for their passionfruit mojito and clever signs.
Or Gitano
Right by Hartwood, they specialize in Mezcal cocktails, so if you’re a smokey kinda guy or gal. This is your spot.
And just to wrap it up, I’ll throw in another item that Stitch Fix knocked it out of the park with. This dress.
